Bangalore IT.in or out?

The infrastructure or the lack of it in Bangalore is back to haunt India's premier IT event Bangalore IT.Com now rechristened Bangalore IT.in.

A group of high-profile software companies including Texas Instruments, HP, Philips, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Novell have decided to boycott this year's event, scheduled during October 26-29, citing lack of adequate infrastructure in the city.

These companies are part of an association called Bangalore Forum for Information Technology (BFIT). The group had threatened non-cooperation during last year's Bangalore IT.Com for the same reason but eventually agreed to participate after the Government of Karnataka promised action on the infrastructure front.

This year, the government's IT department has retorted by dismissing the protest as inconsequential and will not give credence to the group.

Said Bobby Mitra, MD, Texas Instruments (India), one of the pioneers of offshoring work to India and specifically to Bangalore: "We are all frustrated with the lack of infrastructure here. Not only as an IT organisation, but as a citizen, we feel that infrastructure development is just not there. Our employees spend unnecessary time commuting and it is reflecting on their productivity. Last year, we were assured that the situation will improve and we had relented, based on the credibility of the government statements. But, there has been absolutely no change. This time, we will not even consider our participation in the forthcoming Bangalore IT.in. For us it is Bangalore IT.out!"

Dismissing this protest as not credible, Shankaralinge Gowda, secretary, department of IT & BT said: "This time, I am least bothered about this group. These are a handful of companies and they hardly participate. Most of them are commentators and are never happy. I am not going to give credence to their protests and will not pamper them this time around."

Said Mitra: "It is not about us just participating at Bangalore IT.in by putting up stalls. A lot of companies like us were participating at seminars, CEO Forum and events like this which make Bangalore IT.in more meaningful. We have de-cided not to look at anything related to this event this time."

Not being the one to mince words, Gowda said: "We are planning to get global CEOs this time around and if these 20-odd CEOs do not participate, it will not make a major dent on the event. This group was talking about Bangalore International Airport, Metro rail project, Bangalore-Mysore Road, law and order issues. All these have been addressed and work is in progress. We cannot individually look at specific roads leading to these companies but as a government we have to look at overall development of the city and state, which we are doing."

Given this kind of rhetoric, it remains to be seen what what the fate of Bangalore IT.in will be.